Render
by Aki The Crane
Summary: What seems like scrap falling onto a planet from a collision of two vessels is more than just devastating to the natives buildings, but brings to light Soong didn't just create his androids from nothingness. Meet the droid between B-4 and Lore. [ OC, did my best to stay more cannon with dates and lingo; summary likely to change a little later ]
1. Render: Prologue

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Prologue –

Close to Romulan space in part of the neutral zone was a floating mass of scrap, parts from Romulan ships mingled with parts from an unknown. Some of these parts were still working, blinking on and off with lights of reds, blues, and greens. As they floated close to a moon the scrap was pulled into orbit of its mass where it circled for weeks before the planet this moon orbited itself drew hard on them. The moon passed closely to the planet and the scrap went hurdling down to the surface. Much of it burned up – some even melting – upon entry of the atmosphere but the parts that did survive impacted a hill side sending an avalanche of rocks and dust at a trade post between the major governments and the locals of this world.

It wasn't often that they got to trade with others, being in the neutral zone but these people held wares of all kinds. Often times they were sought out for their advanced interfacing technology – being able to adapt Klingon cloaking to a single photon torpedo had its uses. Their planet was considered M class but the atmosphere held higher traces of nitrous oxide; after prolonged exposure causing humans and romulans to laugh randomly, while Klingons would have an odd effect of depression, and Vulcans often stayed off world knowing its harmful effects on their psyche. The nick name given to this planet by the English language, Euphoria.

When the impact of the scrap hit the mountain hill side many locals scattered to avoid being crushed. Several calls were made out into space for assistance, one to the Romulans specifically to retrieve their property. However they did not stay to help with the rebuilding of the trade post for the Federation had arrived with more numbers than the Romulan ships; both were treading on thin ice being in the neutral zone.


	2. Chapter One: Artificial

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Chapter One: Artificial -

The Arev'cakal, natives to the planet Euphoria, believed that building something with a machine to house the soul in ruined relationships with their god. The repairs on the trade post had to be redone by hand and hard work. While many worked alongside the federation to achieve this goal others were at work trying to identify parts of scrap that had not belonged to the Romulans. Although they believed in building houses and other housing type buildings by hand that did not mean they lacked in technology, for anything that was not in that category could have a machine used on it.

One such native by the human name of Goodman clacked away on a set of keys designed for their long clawed hands. Next to him was a floating piece of scrap – still blinking lights of yellow and red – inside an analyzer. Light was being projected over the metal box like object scanning it. However each time it was scanned something new flashed up on the screen before him and he furrowed his scaly brow with narrowed yellow eyes, "Di-gom's breath," he exclaimed to the empty room; or what he thought was empty, "how I would love to just open you up and peek inside with these claws…" he was speaking not in English but in Arevian. The metallic like scaled creature pushed away from the desk he was working at with a huff, small amounts of heat vapors pouring out his snout.

"Having trouble?" The queer voice came from his entry way to the lab, a human with machine eyes in the form of a visor walked over; a lop-sided grin upon its hideous smushed snout, "Mind if I help out, captain asked me to lend a hand if it was welcome."

While these people did not mind off worlders, Goodman particularly did not care for them. He found them very ugly to look at and often annoying. However he was curious about this one; mainly for his eyes, "Trade with me then, allow me to see your visor." Their voice when speaking in English sounded close to a Klingon, ferocious, but was graceful like that of a snake.

Simply the man raised his clawless hands and took off the visor, it gave off a soft click when he did this; and handed it to Goodman, "I'll need that back you know," Goodman grunted in knowing that he would have to give it back or the man would be blind. He turned the visor this way and that, then wondered how he looked to the smushed snout human through this device. Silently he placed it upon a white pad next to the metal box and clicked down on his keys again. It first lit up and then caused the visor to hover in mid-air, next he began disassembling it, "So did you find what you wanted to?" The human male asked.

"No. It is still disassembling," The air smelt heavy with fear suddenly and he looked to the human male, his face had worry lines all over it, "I will re-assemble when done." Although it did not remove the smell from the air it appeared to considerably calm him. Such annoying high maintenance creatures. Goodman scanned the visor, the data showing up on his screen without any problems; unlike the box object. As it reassemble however a sudden surge of power spiked through his computer, several sparks came off his analyzer pads.

"What was that?" These creatures did ask many questions, yet Goodman forgave this one for he had no eyes to see for himself.

"Crossed wires perhaps… your visor is safe." He had assumed that the first analyzer pad was having malfunctions and that caused the power problem when he activated the second analyzer. Handing the visor back to the male he stared waiting to make sure he had not damaged the device.

Placing it upon his face with another soft click the male looked around and smiled with white teeth, "Looks good," he held out his hand, "by the way my name's Geordi."

Several hours after working with the Arev'cakal Goodman, Geordi went to join the others around an old fashion campfire. The other ships that had been called out to help with the repairs had left and only two sets of crews remained; the Enterprise of course being one of them. Many stayed on board the ship unwilling to breath in the air on this planet due to either medical conditions or personal reasons, and he couldn't blame them. However it did _improve_ the mood of everyone that had been on world. He took a seat on a hovering bench with no back, which sunk for a moment before adjusting to his weight and watched the interactions between his own ship's crew.

His type of sight wasn't like other humans it consisted of the electromagnetic spectrum, creating visual input, and transmits it into the brain. It expanded the normal spectrum to a full perceived spectrum from 1 Hz - 100 PHz for him, he saw many things others would not, like their vital signs or heart rate. However something was not right. As he looked upon the crew he noticed a visual distortion. At first he thought this was just his android friend Data, but when said android sat beside him; the hover bench almost dropping to the ground before catching them he asked his friend, "Data, tell me who's over there."

He knew his crew mate had been about to say something himself by the way he heard him open his mouth an intake air; always trying to be human, but answered him instead, "From left to right. Doctor Crusher, Commander Bell, Commander Riker, Wesley, and Ensign Sui. Why do you ask Geordi, is there a problem with your visor?"

Data had pointed out five people but he had counted six, he leaned forward some, "Are you sure?" His voice held that puzzled tone and considered the possibility that his visor had been affected by the power flux back in the lab of Goodman.

"Yes. Positive."

"I think there is something wrong then," he took off the visor and held it in his hands, if something was truly wrong with it he wasn't sure if he could replace it easily, "I counted six people Data." He finally said to the patient android.

It didn't take his friend long to reply, "Could it be a residual shadow of heat?" This was the first thing he himself had considered but it was very, very unlikely because it was not fading. Granted the people of Euphoria gave off an intense glow of energy it too often disappeared with their movement. Silently he shook his head no and Data gave another question to consider, "What about an abnormality caused from the fire?"

He had no idea why this would be a factor but gave it try anyways and placed the visor back on. Geordi leaned back in an exasperated way; there were only five people there now. When he turned to face his friend he suddenly jumped up and back from the sight of an energy signature reaching for him. It was not Data nor did it have vitals like a human – nor was it intense enough to be Arevian, "What the-"

"Geordi?" Data stood as well and reached out to catch the visor as he threw it off his face.


	3. Chapter Two: Levin

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Chapter Two: Levin –

While the crew of both the Enterprise and the Hanoi worked to rebuild Arevian structures Data, Geordi, and Wesley were in the lab of Goodman trying to figure out what might have happened to the lieutenant commander's visor.

"I assure you it was not my intention to harm your sight," the scaled being spoke in a calm demeanor as he checked his computer again for faulty wires, finding none. There was no explanation for the other day's power surge, "My equipment has no malfunctions." The Arevian looked up quickly at the sound of Wesley's voice, something about something being _cool_.

"Yeah I can tell…" Geordi could in fact tell with the functions of his visor, but he trailed off remembering that it was possibly broken at the moment, "The other day I thought I heard static. When that surge happened."

Goodman was watching Wesley like a predator might, a lite steam coming from his snout when the boy touched a hovering coffee table causing it to spill his drink. Data had noticed this and grabbed the boy's attention to _help_ him scan over the wires once more. As they walked to a different spot in the room the orange eyes followed the two, "There were some sparks." He finally answered Geordi's unasked question. Goodman rose to pick up the cup and place a rag on the floor.

As if on cue the lieutenant's visor acted up, he spotted another visual distortion. It was next to Goodman's desk pointing at the floating scrap cube. Lights on the device began to flicker rapidly, the sound of crackling static coming from the analyzer pad as it began to smoke. He could see the energy wave lengths being put out not only by his visor but by the box as they seemed to synchronized but overloaded the pad, "Goodman!" he shouted suddenly realizing that the Arevian's tech was on fire.

Quickly it was put out and the box lay resting on the desk out of reach from any analyzer pad, "Is it often that your equipment catches fire?" Data was asking Goodman while they both curiously looked over the charred piece of technology. Goodman merely scoffed with some more heat vapors coming from his snout.

Wesley and Geordi… well Wesley… was looking at Geordi's visor, "I just don't know, it may sound crazy but I don't think this was random." To both their delight Beverley Crusher, the ships head doctor, came down on world to assist with his visor. She arrived just after he made his statement, "Where the heck is Bev?"

Conveniently she was there to retort, "I could have been in front of you for all you knew."

"Hah, I doubt that; good ears." He felt for the visor in Wesley's hands then handed it over to the good doctor.

Which she placed down and first scanned his temporal implants, "How long has this been happening?"

He knew where this was going, "I told you the air doesn't affect my sight, it happened after some sparks from Goodman's machine last night."

Beverley let out a sigh, "That reminds me, Wesley back to the ship."

"But mom…" he began in classic protest.

However his mother did not stand for it and cut him off there, "Now. Wesley," Her stern voice caused the boy to bow his head and take with a soft yes mom. She didn't like the idea of having the crew exposed for such long periods of time to the nitrous oxide in the air, even the amount she had breathed in just getting to the lab had made her feel a little giddy, "… well the scans say there is nothing wrong with your implants," she left him to grab the visor and scan it several times over, "what is… I can't get a straight reading-"

Suddenly the visor lit up on its own accord and the box in the lab did the same however this time it was far worse than small sparks. A bolt of lightning arched from the cube to the nearby hovering coffee table, to Goodman's computer, and even at Data himself. Luckily it was not enough voltage to affect the android or the computer but it shut down the functions of the coffee table. It simply fell to the floor with a plop, "… It generates its own power, fascinating." Goodman was the first to speak.

In less than two days this box of scrap had gone from a mystery item to a fascinating cube of mystery. It was a big deal to the Arev'cakal. They took it from Goodman's lab and hooked it up to every technological gizmo that could be found, sensors of the their people's highest caliber constantly scanning it and now Goodman had several other Arevian scientists working with him to figure out the mystery box. Yet as much as it seemed a big deal to them to figure it out, the Federation was also curious. Geordi's visor was asked to be taken from him by the Arevians to collect data on, and he agreed when he could produce a new one to replace it with. This he received very quickly from a surprising spare on the Hanoi.

It was agreed that the Hanoi would stop construction of the buildings to assist in the research of other unidentified scrap that the Arevian had acquired. While the crew of the Enterprise continued; the Hanoi had the advantage of being a science ship to get out of the heavy labor. This did not stop many of the curious crew from peeking in every so often. Each night when the sun's light could no longer light what they were building and the streets lit up with a neon green hue from the many hovering lights Wesley and a class mate of his; if on world, would _sneak_ off to watch the constant data flow coming from the cube. Geordi worked with the Hanoi, keeping their systems running and in check while a few other members of the Enterprises engineering crew volunteered when needed. Even Captain Picard took an interest in finding out what it was; making a small break in the identity of the cube by noting that it had old earth Latin engraved on part of it.

Four nights after containing the cube in a high scale analyzer with many power surge protections Goodman made another large discovery, "There is a constant flow of data and within that data are many routine and sub routine processes, mathematical and rhythmic in nature. However when it is subjected to a new scan or procedure on our part the sub processes are interrupted for a brief moment while it adds another set of data to its own…"

Goodman was speaking in Arevian to his fellows in the room; the humans present very lost in the conversation while Data the android kept up and even replied, "I often have experienced this while adding new information to my own data base, subroutines are temporarily halted. Our federation ships also have this as to not overload the system with too many tasks at once. Once the information has been uploaded the various and usually trivial subroutines will continue functioning."

"…Yes. However when this information is added it is not only halting subroutines, it is re-directing them based on their _importance of function, _which we have no current…" Goodman was done when a large arc of lighting lashed out at the top of the analyzer, "… Contain that!" he hissed to the other Arevians in the room.

Before the arc could be contained another sprouted off it hitting the glass between them and the cube; cracking it. A loud snap of thunder followed shortly as they flipped on more switches to hold the power surge in check. When all was well again something very peculiar was wrong with the crack on the glass… it wasn't just a random crack but had the shape of the English letters **OTS** outlined in a slight grey char.


	4. Chapter Three: Intelligent

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Chapter Three: Intelligent –

The USS Hanoi departed shortly after the completion of the major buildings, it was the task of the Enterprise now and they had been sent off on another assignment. As an independent planet to the Federation the Arevians reserved all right to decline access to the Federation, yet they welcomed the extra data padds. Especially with the construction on the verge of being finished; these people held a sort of ceremonially festival every time a place of residence was completed – and it had been declared that it would be held once all the dwellings were done. It was going to be a very busy earth week for everyone it seemed.

With the debate opened that this cube has some form of intelligence other than basic routine functions and supporting programs the federation declared an official interest. Taking into care the prime directive – of course they needed not worry about interfering with the Arev'cakal seeing as they were possibly just as advanced as they were if not more – when working with _The Right to Life_. Many of the other scrap pieces were tested for the same power fluxes and data flow, while Data personally tried to match them to other known units of similar stature.

"No. I don't sense any emotion coming from that box," This had to have been the sixth time that Deanna Troi had been asked. Just because she was the only Betazoid, well half Betazoid, here didn't mean she liked being pestered all the time. However she remembered something that had been brought up by her android colleague, "… just because I sense no emotion doesn't mean it isn't sentient." She had turned to their captain while making this point.

He nodded in reply, "I agree," They all knew they were bringing up this based on their own little android's current lack of emotions, "which reminds me. We should see how Data has progressed." The elder man turned with commander Troi along with commander Riker in tow towards where their friend was working. Upon reaching the tall spiral building he was in they gawked a bit at a few naked Arevian; silvery scales of course covering everything that a human might considered private, as they walked out.

Turned out there were many more naked Arev'cakal in the building as well, along with their cultures art. Data was housed in a small room with magnifying tools; commonly they had been used for sculpting works of art in fine detail but he was using them to look over the scrap. Several pieces were lined up neatly in a row upon a hover table while one pile was off to the side on the floor and another smaller pile sat next to his person. The pale hand plucked something from the smaller pile, placing it under the magnification for not more than three seconds before moving it to the larger pile.

"What a place to work…" Riker had commented while he walked backwards into the room before turning back around to see the piles of scrap himself.

Data looked up at him with a _quizzical look_ – what could pass as a quizzical look from him - "The tools here suited my purpose very well." Riker hadn't quite meant it that way; however before anything on that matter could be brought up more their captain spoke.

"Have you found out anything about our mystery wreckage Data?"

He made an intake of air while opening his mouth to speak, for some reason it was almost a second nature habit of someone to tell him to _shut up_ before he'd even spoke so he'd taken to allow a minor pause before he did. Yet when no one objected in the next point three seconds he continued, "I believe I may have found the origins of the ship and the container that could have held our mystery cube," his pale hand gestured to the pieces on the hover table, "these," he pointed to nearly all of them, "are parts from a Ferengi trade ship; seeing as the Arev'cakal do often have dealings with them it could have been in route here before coming across the Romulan starship."

Knowing his captain almost too well he took a few moments to pause and sure enough Picard commented, "That does seem very possible, and what about the other ones?" He was referring to the larger two Data had not pointed out.

"That is what may be of more interest," whenever Data said something was _interesting_ it either was very much so… or worse than watching paint dry, yet the others hoped it be the first, "I have yet to find how to open it however."

Vague and curious, "What do you mean, open it?" Deanna asked him.

He gestured them to look closer, "It is a type of lock; here and here." Carefully his fingers pointed out both locks on the scrap, "It is in fact not scrap as we would think, merely other objects melding to the surface of these two larger containers," again he paused for any comment that wanted to be said by his colleagues and after no such thing he continued, "I was unsure at first as to what these markings were but after removing some of the extra scrap I have found human Latin to be engraved into each container. One stating Protegens Ratio and the other Reliquit Et Brachium."

Those gears clicked in Picard's head faster than his crew, "Shielding System and Left Arm?" Then another clicked into place in his mind, "Animus…" he trailed off at first but the looks that Troi and Riker gave him caused him to pick up, "it's old Latin for The Mind."

The four Enterprise members made their way from the art building with haste to the main Arevian science lab. Data had talked just about the whole way, explaining that he could hook up the holo-program to the cube with the aid of the interfacing technology on the planet. The discovery was announced to Goodman and his team which they sheepishly told Picard that they had already suspected this theory but did not wish to share that information with the Federation. The beans were spilled while Data with the aid of Geordi re-aligned wires, functions, and other gizmos to work with the cube to allow it access to a hologram program if it was in fact intelligent.

As the captain of the enterprise and Goodman were just to the point of bickering an arc of lighting lashed out; the breakers for power surges had been removed to make way for the new link and caused the room to go black. Vibrant yellows, blues, and reds flashed from the cube in the form of blinking lights and the sound of the hologram generator they'd put together winding up caught everyone's attention.

A soft blue hue lit up the otherwise blank image on the hologram and then just as Geordi had seen with his visor a slightly disordered image reaching out from nothingness, but clearly these others could tell it resembled a gloved human hand. Like hitting an invisible barrier the hand pressed against something whilst more of the arm appeared, the glove was black and ran up the length of the arm; a thin yellow strip from the middle finger upon its length. Lights on the cube flicked in another pattern Data noticed while his positronic brain multi-tasked on the situation, a second hand appeared from the nothingness of blue hue hologram matching the first. They both pressed seemingly hard against the invisible barrier but soon stopped and began to move.

The android knew what it was doing and recorded each movement while waiting to be asked, which his Captain did, "What is it doing?" He felt that by letting them ask it did not injure their humanly pride as much.

"Sign language Sir. Not using words however just the individual lettering of the English language," he was waiting for it to either stop or begin to repeat the message to continue. The message was short - at least he thought that was a short enough message considering that the hand signs were at a more rapid pace than any human would use - but really caught his full interest, "No scanners. Damage to several internal functions. Property of Omicron Theta Science Colony 4457-Delta… Doctor Soong." The message was repeated in two other forms of sign language known to him but he merely turned towards the captain; both quite possibly looking very surprised.


	5. Chapter Four: Cybernetic

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Chapter Four: Cybernetic –

"…it cannot understand us through the functions of the cube alone, this is why it is a good guess that it purposefully linked to Geordi's visor. Thus trying to gain his attention to cease the scans which had been overloading some its internal processing units; creating large releases of energy in the form of lighting arc's," Goodman had complied his notes for the Federation and he was clacking away on a computer to show visual images of the cube; having found which scans had been harmful and ones that were not, "it was assumed at first to be hostile, however after the dialogue retrieved by your commander Data it is now assumed to only be… confused or upset." The last two words were very foreign to him in English; the Arev'cakal did often become either of the two yet not in the same usage as a human might. He had wanted to portray it in another manner but feared that they would not understand; these two words came close enough to what he really meant.

"So it does have emotions?"

"No." Goodman shot the answer at Riker like a viper might strike a prey. He stared at the commander wondering why it was so hard to say it had emotional processes but no actual emotions, this was not as ' black and white ' as the smushed snouts might think.

Luckily the silence was broken by the door sliding open with a swoosh, commander Data towing behind him the two large containers he had found earlier. He lifted one like it was nothing with one hand placing it gently upon the round hovering table at which his crewmates and Goodman were sitting at. Standing tall the second on its side next to the table, "I have discovered the access code to unlock these two containers." His fingers tapped on the appropriate symbols of the first box upon the table and it unlocked with an airy chime sound, he noted that everyone leaned ever so slightly towards the container. He himself was curious as this was the first time he was opening it; even after finding the code to do so before entering the room.

Pressurized air hissed out for a brief moment, until Data lifted on the top; inside there were various technological pieces resembling microchips… two of them appeared to be missing from an empty slot and the larger slot was also unoccupied but held the same shape as their intelligent mystery cube, "It is quite possible that the Ferengi sold off the two missing slots…" Data noted when he looked over the contents.

"Those ones there look like our ships databank chips for directing shield functions," Geordi pointed out a few of the slots and then moved to some others, "and these are identical to what we use for the deflectors… but these I'm not sure about." There were only a few that Geordi couldn't point out, honestly not knowing what they were or might have been used for. When it came down to it he had no idea why a box no bigger than a common square tissue box would need such high powered shielding in the first place.

"Fascinating… Data, do you know what they are? Since…" Picard had piped in.

The android provided the ending to his captain's sentence, "Since this was more than likely manufactured by my father, Dr. Soong," That gained the merit of Goodman's intense orange stare. The scaled creature made a small soft noise that sounded like breathing outward but heat vapors only rose from his snout, "Other than what lieutenant commander LaForge pointed out, I only know the function of one more slot, this," he pointed to one smaller chip neatly tucked sideways rather than in a row with the others, "is a morality chip holding the _laws of robotics_ within it."

"And how do you know this?" Goodman spoke before the Enterprise could bring up the question.

Mechanically Data's head inclined and turned ever so towards the Arevian, "Because I also have one."

"You're saying this is parts to another android Data, something Soong made?" Picard asked the question they had all been thinking finally.

Data's head lowered and turned back to face the others at the hover table, "I am unsure Captain," slowly he closed up the container and removed it from the table, once again setting it carefully down upon the floor. He was contemplating having another sibling, wondering exactly how many androids were really before the creation of B-4, Lore, or even himself. He also posed the question in his own mind why shielding units would be needed for an android if it was perhaps one; he did not need such equipment. In the time he was taking to think on all this he opened up the second case upon the hover table.

Inside lay a partly finished machine arm, thin and slender, there was something akin to human flesh but very pale – not unlike Data himself – up to the elbow but did not continue after that point. A faint selection of skin running up the arm was not comprised of the skin but of glossy metal. One could see the mechanics of the hydraulic systems, tubing, wires and metallic bits and pieces of the upper arm to the shoulder plating. Next to it laid a dark black glove with a thin yellow line running from the middle finger to the top of it, the glove would come to rest at the mid upper arm if worn. This line matched up with the line on the arm itself. The piece was in fact similar to the holographic image they'd gotten from the cube while it had used sign language to communicate.

"I do believe this is a much earlier composition than of my own," Data had that ever so curious note in his voice and as he looked closer his android eyes noticed at about the same time Geordi's did, "this strip is similar to a tesla-coil; how interesting."

"Captain we could be dealing not with just an AI but a fully cybernetic being." Geordi LaForge faced his captain's energy signature. They had encountered Lore and his unstable ways which caused the crew to have mixed emotions about leaving this alone or trying to assemble this possible being.

However exploration was part of their job, to discover new life and new galaxies, even if it turned out to be dangerous.


	6. Chapter Five: Effable

_Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of Paramount Studios, the author, or this website. Any relation to currently used own creation characters has not been intended. This is an alternate universe while many constants remain the same._

- Render -  
- Chapter Five: Effable -

The completion of the buildings had been done and that very night the Arev'cakal celebrated in a festive fashion with food, drink, and what could have been considered fireworks. However these displays of dazzling colored fires came from their own bodies, launched from their mouths into the sky. It was the first time the Federation had witnessed the Arev'cakal in their full size actually growing taller to a height of fifteen feet showing off a light of sorts from their chest – to a child they might actually have looked like a smaller silver Godzilla robot – each light and fire an Arevian produced was unique to their person, no two were exactly the same.

It wasn't until after this celebration that a discussion had been made to try and attempt possible reconstruction of the AI cube. However because Data had explained that the arm was not finished in the first place that perhaps it had never had a functioning physical body; that they might try to repair the damages to the cube itself first. Many nights were spend trying to repair any damage to the cube based on Data's own programming and many days were spent trying to figure out if the cube would reject the changes since it was not identical to Data's positronic brain. At last however they found programs that allowed the cube to project more of itself, even a small amount of sound in the form of zeros and distorted ones; binary code. However it could only respond in simple replies when asked a question, gaining them very little on how to fix the being.

Days passed before the hologram formed a full image, from the blue nothingness it appeared as if something was pulling itself out of a dark hole. A young woman dressed in white and black while yellow lines ran along her arms and legs with the most eerie set of green eyes. She was pale in skin and blonde hair cascaded down to meet just below her shoulders. Her clothing while being interesting to look at was not standard for that time period of human apparel; it was not a full jump suit and exposed her shoulders along with part of her thighs. When this being opened its mouth on the holographic image a loud static squeal came out before the rapid set of one's and zero's in a very mechanical non-gender voice. The lips did not move to the words but merely stayed open while peering past the people in the room as if it could not actually see them.

"Geordi," Data grabbed his friends attention from the image, one of his hands was typing quickly on the human keyboard that was plugged in to the Arevian system, "please go and retrieve the container with the various shielding systems and plug slot number forty three into this port here." His free hand pointed at the port to which he was referring too. On screen he was recording each one and zero that was spoken, himself knowing what each one meant when translated to old earth Latin; they were instructions on how to access the security verification process so that self-repair on two systems could begin along with the access to reveal more information.

LaForge had done as asked and the hologram reacted by stopping, moving her hand in a sweeping motion and a blank blue hued square showed up, "What do we do with that…" noticing a line in the box fluctuate while he spoke and then turn bright red with a binary code for _declined_ over top of it they realized what it was. Geordi's old visor was still transmitting data to the cube thus when they spoke it was picked up turned into a visual sensor and redirected to language within the space of nanoseconds.

"Requesting access of secure files," Data mimicked in his father, Dr. Soong's, voice but it again blinked an angry red at him. The two men looked at each other then back to the holographic image, "Perhaps it requires a specific passphrase as well?" He inquired to his friend but suddenly Geordi began to nod his head; more like bobbing slightly than a full nod.

"That container only said Soong right? Maybe if not a pass phrase we used the wrong one." He held up his hand with one finger pointed out as if he were physically pointing to a large light bulb above his head.

Data tilted his head and considered this and it wouldn't really waste much time if he went through each known Soong's voice; his obviously not working either. He began to try each one he knew, Lore: Declined. Somewhat of a relief that was. Next his mother: Declined. He tried ancestors like Arik Soong but even those gave way to failed access, he was in the sense glad that this AI did not have a locking function after so many failed attempts. It was not until he took a new approach of passphrase and voice that he gained a green light with the word Granted in binary, "Professor Emeritus Soong." It was the title that had practically forced _retirement_ on Noonien Soong, his father, in the first place.

At this point the importance of certain functions in the cube changed. The holographic generator was powered down while the data from non-harmful scans confirmed that a diagnostic repair program was running.

"The Federation has requested that a report be filed on what we have discovered thus far," Captain Picard spoke to his number one Riker, "… and based on that report they may or may not, send another science ship."

"Because they want to take the technology back to use it?" Riker was bringing up the point in time when the Federation had a bout with Data whither or not he was a being with free rights or just a machine, a tool to be used.

"Right," the older man sat down and folded his hands upon a desks surface, he always felt cozy in his own office and now that he'd been off world long enough the air wasn't making him giddy; it felt more normal, "we need to word this right, describe that this thing is not just a box of information but more." He lacked the correct words right now, mostly because they hadn't discovered much more about it while it was in its own repair mode.

There was a soft chime on his com-badge which he pressed to allow the connection of signals, "Captain, the self-repairs have finished," busy or not this week seemed to be ending up very convenient in general, "and the cube has restored many of its main functions such as speech patterns through the hologram interface."

Data's voice need not produce anymore facts as Picard replied with a quick, "On our way."

Data and the holographic image were locked in a staring contest when Picard had arrived, noticing that Geordi's old visor had been dismantled on a nearby table. While the engineer worked to incorporate it with the help of an Arevian, "How about now?" He called to Data.

The android blinked twice then moved his hand up, then back down, "Try again." He called back after a moment.

"What in the world are you doing now Data?" Riker stifled a small laugh knowing although it looked silly what was going on, the android probably had a very good reason for doing it.

Data supplied a sufficient response, "Commonly Federation ships have a program in their system that allows visual signatures, thus the hologram can tell how you are visually reacting. This particular system was severely damaged beyond the self-repair of this AI cube. However because it linked with a copy of itself to Geordi's visor we are attempting to incorporate the senor chip directly into this generator as to allow sight."

Riker merely blinked following about half of that but understood that currently the image could not see them. Picard nodded his head without saying anything like he understood all of that, mostly he just agreed with Data when there was too much information – he himself understanding about as much as Riker. Perhaps he'd let Data write the report for him…

"How about now?" Came LaForge's voice again.

The android repeated his blinking twice, holding up his hand then lowering it. This time the image blinked twice and held up the mirrored hand then lowered it, "Good!" He tried very hard to sound enthused but missed the mark some, "Can you hear me?" He asked the image of the AI woman.

First it didn't seem like it had and he opened his mouth about to tell Geordi that there was now a problem of hearing capacities but to his glad tidings she spoke, "I cannot hear the vibrations you are making but currently can read them by conversation of visual energy into sound, yes."

The crew present wondered if they had another Data on their hands. Of course making his long sentences and overabundant intelligence a small joke in the process of their own minds.

Goodman spoke up this time, "What is your function." It had been playing his mind ever since this little wonder crashed into the hillside of their planet.

The image made a face of curiosity then confusion and one might even say irritation, "What is your function." An emphasis was put on _your_.

"Science." Simply he stated while a huff of heat vapors rose from his snout.

"The education of manners to unknown races along with various other functions including theoretical arithmetic's to the relevant study of mechanical, physical, and biological systems. My current storage capacity is 453.39 quadrillion bits of a total 870 quadrillion bits, processing speed of 35 trillion operations per second. A total space of 850 quadrillion bits was recorded on star date:" There was a pause then a very mechanical non-gender voice processed out, "Corrupted file," the image paused then and posed another question of its own, "What is today's star date?"

Data answered this quickly, "44056.120470." His internal clock giving him much more of an advantage over the others to not only note the current year, but month, day, hour, minute, and current second.

"I am missing several years in my memory banks."

Goodman huffed a bit, displeased at the answer he'd been given before but asked another anyways, "You surely are effable in your answers, can you describe what you are?"

This was one of the deciding moments; was this being a computer, machine, or did it think, was it more than preprogramed. There was silence for a long time at least a long time according to the processing speed it had, "I am ALICE, unit two, Soong."


End file.
